NEWS AND OPINION: Do we care if UK’s zoos are struggling to breed captive animals because Brexit has introduced intolerable paperwork and bureaucracy? Scores of zoos including London Zoo claim that their breeding schemes for species such as rhinos, monkeys and other endangered animals are being hampered by Brexit red tape. Is there complaint tenable? …
There is a story in The Times today about animal rights groups up in arms over a lioness that was killed at Longleat Safari Park in the UK. There have been seven similar incidents at zoos and safari parks across Britain over the past seven years including this recent one at Longleat. The female was …
Captive big cat breeding programs carry risk of death not present in the wild Read More »
NEWS AND COMMENT-KHARKIV, UKRAINE: The back story to this news item is the war in Ukraine and we know that Kharkiv has been attacked on numerous occasions by Putin’s forces causing death and destruction to civilians in their apartments. Set against that background we have a chimpanzee who escaped Kharkiv Zoo on Monday. There are …
Ukraine: escaped chimp is hugged by woman and he returns to zoo on keeper’s bicycle Read More »
NEWS AND COMMENT-INDONESIA: The video has gone viral as you might expect. In an attempt to make an interesting video for his social media account, Hasanal Arifin, decided to jump over the outer barrier around a cage containing an orangutan. He wanted to get close and, in an effort to create a reaction, he allegedly …
Orangutan scares the living daylights out of wannabe social media star Read More »
NEWS AND COMMENT-UKRAINE: The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues as the war grinds on into a war of attrition although recently Putin has realised that he can’t win it and therefore is scaling back. But for the last two weeks at least, the Russian army has been shelling animal shelters and zoos in Ukraine. This …
This is a good picture which caught my eye of a police officer in Budapest, Hungary, “arresting” a lonely penguin who was minding his own business marching down the centre of a main highway having escaped from his prison, namely Budapest Zoo. It tickles me a little bit because zoos are prisons in a way …
Penguin from Budapest Zoo “arrested” on main road at night Read More »
NEWS AND COMMENT-ANTWERP, BELGIUM: This is a story which turns on the question as to whether a human can have a genuine love affair with an animal. Some people might not believe that it is possible. I’ve seen it before so it is possible. Although we don’t know the feelings of the animals if we …
Woman has love affair with zoo chimp and is banned Read More »
Carrie Johnson is both the wife of the Prime Minister of the UK and the head of public relations for the Aspinall Foundation. She issued a press release recently stating that the foundation will be working with the Kenya Wildlife Service on a “world first to re-world an entire breeding herd of 13 African elephants, …
Carrie Johnson’s plans to fly 13 elephants to Kenya are unjustifiably criticised Read More »
The video caption states that this giraffe in a zoo wants to help a young gazelle by removing from his antlers a small branch on which there are leaves. If you look at the video closely you can see that the giraffe bends over to eat one of the leaves even while the branch is …
Giraffe removes branch stuck on young gazelle’s antlers to eat the leaves not to help Read More »
It looks like this woman wanted to make a short Instagram video for her social page and took a big risk. Spider monkeys are quite small but dangerous. Monkeys are stronger than people imagine. I remember a woman putting her arm through the bars of a chimpanzee cage at a private zoo in the US …
Woman climbs into spider monkey enclosure to feed them Hot Cheetos Read More »
I’ve always wondered about the kind of impact that visitors have on the emotional state of animals in zoos. Do the animals like the presence of human visitors or the opposite? There is an article today in The Times newspaper which helps me with an answer. It is not comprehensive but illuminates the topic slightly. …
Zoo gorillas should be given the Covid-19 vaccination because scientists have discovered that captive gorillas at a zoo in California have contracted the disease from, they believe, an asymptomatic member of staff. It is the first known instance of the virus spreading to great apes. Two gorillas at San Diego Zoo Safari Park started to …
Edinburgh Zoo may have to return their giant pandas to China due to financial limitations brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. Currently Edinburgh Zoo is leasing, under a 10 year deal with the Chinese government, a pair of giant pandas which costs about £1 million a year. The Edinburgh Zoo is run by the Royal …
Edinburgh Zoo may have to return their giant pandas to China Read More »
I can barely write about this because it is so cruel and when you write about cruel things you can be cruel to yourself because it hurts. But this is genuine cruelty and it is taking place in Thailand where 95% of the population are Buddhists. And Buddhists have always regarded animals are sentient beings …
Cher wants to free gorilla caged for thirty years in a shopping mall Read More »
Cher arrived at the Marghazar Zoo, Islamabad, to see off Kaavan – ‘the loneliest elephant in the world’ – at the beginning of his journey to a sanctuary in Cambodia. Kaavan has lived at the zoo for over 35 years and in 2012 lost his partner. Cher had championed his cause. The zoo was closed …
Loneliest elephant at Islamabad zoo going to sanctuary in Cambodia Read More »
